Format string with dashes

c# .net string.format
Kevin picture Kevin · Oct 19, 2010 · Viewed 22k times · Source

I have a compressed string value I'm extracting from an import file. I need to format this into a parcel number, which is formatted as follows: ##-##-##-###-###. So therefore, the string "410151000640" should become "41-01-51-000-640". I can do this with the following code:

String.Format("{0:##-##-##-###-###}", Convert.ToInt64("410151000640"));

However, The string may not be all numbers; it could have a letter or two in there, and thus the conversion to the int will fail. Is there a way to do this on a string so every character, regardless of if it is a number or letter, will fit into the format correctly?

Answer

Yuriy Faktorovich picture Yuriy Faktorovich · Oct 19, 2010 
Regex.Replace("410151000640", @"^(.{2})(.{2})(.{2})(.{3})(.{3})$", "$1-$2-$3-$4-$5");

Or the slightly shorter version

Regex.Replace("410151000640", @"^(..)(..)(..)(...)(...)$", "$1-$2-$3-$4-$5");

Related questions

How does string.Format handle null values?

In the following code below, why do the two string.Format calls not behave the same way? In the first one, no exception is thrown, but in the second one an ArgumentNullException is thrown. static void Main(string[] args) { Exception …

Read More
Double string.format

I have some double values I want to convert to a string with this pattern: 0.xx or x.xx Currently I have try this: double.ToString("#.#0"); What should I add in order to see zero in case my number start …

Read More
String.Format exception when format string contains "{"

I am using VSTS 2008 + C# + .Net 2.0. When executing the following statement, there is FormatException thrown from String.Format statement, any ideas what is wrong? Here is where to get the template.html I am using. I want to format this …

Read More